Tender and business plan

[Rugbynells]

Hi all, does anybody have any advice on submitting a tender and business plan for a farm rental/tenancy . If possible I'd like advice from both sides, tenant and landlord on what to include and not as the case may be.
Any advice (if constructive) would be very appreciated
Thanks in advance

 

[ploughman1963]

Best advice in my opinion would be to make sure you do it yourself so that you understand all the figures and strategies you include! Do not be tempted to let someone else charge you for writing your application. Be honest with yourself and bid what you can afford and make it clear why you are offering what you are. Make sure you tell them what benefits you bring to their farm. If they underst and care about such things you have half a chance, if not it will just be highest bidder wins I'm afraid

 

[Rugbynells]

Best advice in my opinion would be to make sure you do it yourself so that you understand all the figures and strategies you include! Do not be tempted to let someone else charge you for writing your application. Be honest with yourself and bid what you can afford and make it clear why you are offering what you are. Make sure you tell them what benefits you bring to their farm. If they underst and care about such things you have half a chance, if not it will just be highest bidder wins I'm afraid

Thank you Ploughman

 

[chaffcutter]

Is this an actual application or an exercise? If it's for real and they are competitive tenders by a certain day and time, my tip is to present your tender in person one minute before the appointed time. The reason for this is that on two occasions when submitting tenders we have taken them in to find open tenders on the desk in front of us in advance of the tender time, and I know that people have had a phone call " if you up your bid a bit that will do the trick'
This has led me to a general mistrust of agents and people who work in their offices who I have known to tip off their relations about bids........

 

[Rugbynells]

Is this an actual application or an exercise? If it's for real and they are competitive tenders by a certain day and time, my tip is to present your tender in person one minute before the appointed time. The reason for this is that on two occasions when submitting tenders we have taken them in to find open tenders on the desk in front of us in advance of the tender time, and I know that people have had a phone call " if you up your bid a bit that will do the trick'
This has led me to a general mistrust of agents and people who work in their offices who I have known to tip off their relations about bids........

Hi Chaffcutter, this is for real. This will be the first full on attempt as looked at trying once before and spoke to the letting agent before and got totally dismissed by them and told it was pointless trying, so speaking to the current agent is something I'm very wary of.
This is a new thing to us and have no idea how to tender an affective plan. I'm guessing the costings are based on a lot of historical data as we have no real idea of the future. Doing the work isn't the issue and neither is the accounting side of things and I'm fortunate to have some money in the bank but what data to put in the tender is. Thanks for your advice and did you get there eventually yourself?

 

[2tractors]

I have helped two people get tenancies recently, in one case a first time applicant the other took 3 interviews over 4 months but we got there.The business plan needs to be comprehensive with a strong section on your personal attributes and what you have achieved to date. Also the usual cash flows, gross margins and profit and loss projections. This is to get you an interview after that it's down to you!

Whilst I agree with @ploughman1963 that you must understand every detail of the plan someone who is experienced in writing plans can be worth having, writing a plan is a skill and language in itself, which not everyone can do.

Give yourself plenty of time to put it together and double check every figure. Don't be discouraged if you don't succeed first time very few people do! Good luck.

 

[Rugbynells]

I have helped two people get tenancies recently, in one case a first time applicant the other took 3 interviews over 4 months but we got there.The business plan needs to be comprehensive with a strong section on your personal attributes and what you have achieved to date. Also the usual cash flows, gross margins and profit and loss projections. This is to get you an interview after that it's down to you!

Whilst I agree with @ploughman1963 that you must understand every detail of the plan someone who is experienced in writing plans can be worth having, writing a plan is a skill and language in itself, which not everyone can do.

Give yourself plenty of time to put it together and double check every figure. Don't be discouraged if you don't succeed first time very few people do! Good luck.

Thank you. It is very daunting but I guess nothing that's worth while comes easily. With regard to cash flow I'll assume that's just based on year one of trading as forecasting beyond that could be more of a flip of a coin with the current economic turmoil. With gross margin should you base that over the last 3 year average for crop/stock prices against a COGS estimate over the same period. Sorry if I sound totally naive but just trying get all this correct in my mind before we start fine tuning our plan.

 

[ploughman1963]

It was advice I was given by someone who had helped to assess applications for several tenancies over the years. He commented that seeing 4 or 5 tenders/business plans that were identical apart from the names/figures that had all been prepared by the same 'consultant' usually meant those got weeded out at the first round

 

[neilo]

Hi Chaffcutter, this is for real. This will be the first full on attempt as looked at trying once before and spoke to the letting agent before and got totally dismissed by them and told it was pointless trying, so speaking to the current agent is something I'm very wary of.
This is a new thing to us and have no idea how to tender an affective plan. I'm guessing the costings are based on a lot of historical data as we have no real idea of the future. Doing the work isn't the issue and neither is the accounting side of things and I'm fortunate to have some money in the bank but what data to put in the tender is. Thanks for your advice and did you get there eventually yourself?

DEFINITELY speak with the letting agent. It is his job to sort through the tenders & applicants, before submitted a shortlist to interview. He/she is the person you've got to impress in the first instance. If you fail to do so, you won't get any further, however good your tender. Also, be aware that you are being assessed the whole time. I was once told, at the interview stage, that part of the reason we'd got through, was the enthusiasm Mrs NeilO and I had shown, whilst looking round a dilapidated farmhouse that had to be renovated by the tenant as part of the deal. There was an 'office staff member' in the house, answering the basic questions who, unbeknown to us, was obviously taking notes on each person (and it was a busy viewing day). Giving everyone a good impression is how you get through to even have your tender read.

As above, your tender needs to be full and comprehensive, detailing YOUR business plan, YOUR experience and YOUR finances. There are a few agents that produce those 'standard' tenders that @ploughman1963 described, that will do you no favours IMO. If you know your way round figures and budgets, it's not really rocket science.
As far as cash flows and budgets are concerned, try to make them over 3 years. I agree they really are little more than fantasy at that length, but it shows that you have thought beyond 12 months.

I have always done the tenders myself, but I did get a previous letting agent (where we had been runner up) to have a look over the next one. That in itself was a useful exercise, as he viewed it from 'the other side' and made some valid points. He even got me a reference letter from the previous prospective landlord, which certainly did no harm. He tweaked a few little things, mostly for presentation purposes. Some of it seemed a bit unnecessary, such as using colour on the cashflow projection, putting the whole tender document in a spiral bound folder and printing it on good quality paper (which all costs pennies). His point was that the letting agent might have 50 tender documents laid out on his desk, and you want yours to stand out as professional and competently done, so that he picks it out to have a look at. And yes, we got to the final three again, and ultimately got us the choice of another couple of farms on the estate.

You probably won't be lucky enough to get there on the first attempt, but if you impress, it will help with future opportunities. If the letting agent hints at other land that they may have coming up, keep on good terms with them. It's opening the door that is the hard bit, so keep your foot in it. From the above (coloured) tender we were 'invited to tender' for another farm by the primary agent (we declined after viewing day) and eventually got this place without even going through the open tender process. It's certainly been a roller coaster of a ride, so hold on tight.

Feel free to PM me if you like, I've just looked and I still have some of the saved documents that I've submitted if they'll help. I just wish some of the projections had come true.

 

[chaffcutter]

@Rugbynells we were tendering purely on a financial basis as a long established business, which is completely different to the type of tender you are preparing similar to those required locally in applying for County Council farms. I have helped a friend to do his first application, which was unsuccessful, but he learnt a lot and is keen to try again if somewhere suitable comes available.
When we sold our dairy herd 60 went to a young couple who had just got such a tenancy, he told me that the fact that he had enough capital to start without taking on too much debt had made a big impact at his interviews. ( They have been very successful since with the herd since btw!)

 

[Rugbynells]

@Rugbynells we were tendering purely on a financial basis as a long established business, which is completely different to the type of tender you are preparing similar to those required locally in applying for County Council farms. I have helped a friend to do his first application, which was unsuccessful, but he learnt a lot and is keen to try again if somewhere suitable comes available.
When we sold our dairy herd 60 went to a young couple who had just got such a tenancy, he told me that the fact that he had enough capital to start without taking on too much debt had made a big impact at his interviews. ( They have been very successful since with the herd since btw!)

Thank you

 

[Formatted]

Join the Tenant Farmers Association; www.tfa.org.uk they won't write your tender but they have a free-advice service to members, who can give feedback on your tender.

 

[Rugbynells]

Join the Tenant Farmers Association; www.tfa.org.uk they won't write your tender but they have a free-advice service to members, who can give feedback on your tender.

Thank you

 

[Flat 10]

All good advice above. County councils may have pro formas for their applications which you can use for inspiration. Are you farming in your own right now or with relations or never done it?

 

[yellow belly]

I would always consult the letting agent to find out wheat the owners realy want
so you can make sure your tender and business plan meets their requirements

treating agents with respect at all times is essential

include enough detail but you past history capital reserves are more important having own capital and not too high a borrowing helps when rents tendered are similar

keep trying if you miss out this time took me 15 years to get the first acceptance
you will win some and lose a lot if you do not tender you can never win one

 

[Ted135]

DEFINITELY speak with the letting agent. It is his job to sort through the tenders & applicants, before submitted a shortlist to interview. He/she is the person you've got to impress in the first instance. If you fail to do so, you won't get any further, however good your tender. Also, be aware that you are being assessed the whole time. I was once told, at the interview stage, that part of the reason we'd got through, was the enthusiasm Mrs NeilO and I had shown, whilst looking round a dilapidated farmhouse that had to be renovated by the tenant as part of the deal. There was an 'office staff member' in the house, answering the basic questions who, unbeknown to us, was obviously taking notes on each person (and it was a busy viewing day). Giving everyone a good impression is how you get through to even have your tender read.

As above, your tender needs to be full and comprehensive, detailing YOUR business plan, YOUR experience and YOUR finances. There are a few agents that produce those 'standard' tenders that @ploughman1963 described, that will do you no favours IMO. If you know your way round figures and budgets, it's not really rocket science.
As far as cash flows and budgets are concerned, try to make them over 3 years. I agree they really are little more than fantasy at that length, but it shows that you have thought beyond 12 months.

I have always done the tenders myself, but I did get a previous letting agent (where we had been runner up) to have a look over the next one. That in itself was a useful exercise, as he viewed it from 'the other side' and made some valid points. He even got me a reference letter from the previous prospective landlord, which certainly did no harm. He tweaked a few little things, mostly for presentation purposes. Some of it seemed a bit unnecessary, such as using colour on the cashflow projection, putting the whole tender document in a spiral bound folder and printing it on good quality paper (which all costs pennies). His point was that the letting agent might have 50 tender documents laid out on his desk, and you want yours to stand out as professional and competently done, so that he picks it out to have a look at. And yes, we got to the final three again, and ultimately got us the choice of another couple of farms on the estate.

You probably won't be lucky enough to get there on the first attempt, but if you impress, it will help with future opportunities. If the letting agent hints at other land that they may have coming up, keep on good terms with them. It's opening the door that is the hard bit, so keep your foot in it. From the above (coloured) tender we were 'invited to tender' for another farm by the primary agent (we declined after viewing day) and eventually got this place without even going through the open tender process. It's certainly been a roller coaster of a ride, so hold on tight.

Feel free to PM me if you like, I've just looked and I still have some of the saved documents that I've submitted if they'll help. I just wish some of the projections had come true.

Hi been reading about your experience and wondered if you would send me your old documents that you submitted as a example thank you in advance

 

[neilo]

Hi been reading about your experience and wondered if you would send me your old documents that you submitted as a example thank you in advance

PM me your email address and I'll see what I can find. What I've submitted in the past is by no means a plan to copy, but if you're scratching your head trying to word something, it might give a few pointers to get the ball rolling.

 

[scatterbrainedlass]

PM me your email address and I'll see what I can find. What I've submitted in the past is by no means a plan to copy, but if you're scratching your head trying to word something, it might give a few pointers to get the ball rolling.

Hope it's not too cheeky, but any chance you could send them to me too? Trying to work on a tender and while we know what we want to do and what direction to take, trying to find out what information to include and how to lay it all out is a bit mind-boggling! Hope you don't mind me jumping on this post.

 

[Flat 10]

Hi been reading about your experience and wondered if you would send me your old documents that you submitted as a example thank you in advance

I think some of you guys need to work out some of it for yourselves.......
Plenty of advice on here and other places.

 

[neilo]

Hope it's not too cheeky, but any chance you could send them to me too? Trying to work on a tender and while we know what we want to do and what direction to take, trying to find out what information to include and how to lay it all out is a bit mind-boggling! Hope you don't mind me jumping on this post.

Yep, far too cheeky.
As above, PM me your email address and I'll see what I can find. It's certainly no blueprint, but might help get your own creative juices going, which you will obviously need for your own tender.